Tearstained Sand
by Suki-Itami
Summary: They hope it's all just a nightmare, a bad dream. But, it's real...even though some of it may not be.
1. A Nightmare

Shikamaru walked through the dark, empty streets of Sunagakure. It was nearly midnight, and the streets were quiet, Shikamaru liked it that way; quiet.

Shikamaru turned his head when he could've sworn he heard something coming towards him. When he did, sand shoved him against a nearby wall and started to crush him.

Gaara walked up, commanding the sand to crush Shikamaru.

Shikamaru struggled to escape the sand, but couldn't. "What…are you doing, Gaara?"

Gaara glared at Shikamaru with the eyes of a demon.

_If looks could kill, I'd be dead a thousand times over._ Shikamaru thought, not really sure what to do.

"You hurt Temari." Gaara said, wanting to kill Shikamaru.

Shikamaru wasn't able to stay conscious any longer, his eyes rolled back and he passed out.

…

When Shikamaru woke up again, he was in a small cell. He sat up, not sure why he was there. "What in the…?" He got up off of the floor and felt a small pain in his side.

Shikamaru sighed, he didn't know how he got himself into this mess. He walked over to the door and saw a guard standing at a nearby door. "Hey, why am I here?!"

The guard looked over at Shikamaru and then opened the door he was standing in front of, saying something Shikamaru couldn't hear before leading someone into the area.

Kankuro stood in front of Shikamaru's cell, his puppet Karasu was secured on his back.

"Kankuro, tell me what's going on!" Shikamaru said when Kankuro started glaring at him.

"As if you don't know!" Kankuro shouted at him. "Of all the things you've ever done, this is the most disgusting thing you've ever even thought about!"

"I really don't know what's going on, Kankuro!"

Kankuro grabbed Shikamaru by his neck and shouted, "You want to be reminded of what you did, fine!! You're the heartless bastard that raped Temari!!!!"

"Wh-What?" Shikamaru was more confused now than he had been earlier. "I would never do that to her."

Kankuro threw Shikamaru back and turned around, restraining the strong urge to use Karasu to kill Shikamaru. But he knew that if he did, he'd be in trouble with not only Gaara but with everyone else as well.

Shikamaru stood back up off of the floor as Kankuro walked away, he leaned against the wall as what Kankuro said kept repeating in his mind. He shook his head; he couldn't believe anyone would say that…especially Temari.

Shikamaru looked up at the ceiling. _How am I gonna prove my innocence this time?_

…

Temari was sitting up in the bed that she had been given at the clinic. She wasn't sure what to do or what to think anymore. Temari looked at the mirror directly across the room from her and saw how bad she looked. She looked like hell; her left eye was swollen shut, her bottom lip was also swollen, she had a large bruise on her right cheek. Temari looked down at her wrists and saw rope burn marks on them, still red.

Temari could still feel the pain on her arms from some bruises. Temari pushed her hair out of her face when it fell in front of her eyes.

Temari looked up again when she heard the door open, her younger brothers both walked into the room. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. They couldn't believe that Shikamaru would even think of doing anything like this to Temari.

Gaara stood beside Temari, Kankuro stood behind him. Temari looked over at her younger brothers, all of the life in her eyes was gone. Gaara and Kankuro had never seen their sister reduced to this ever before, and they never thought she would be.

"We captured him." Kankuro said slowly.

Temari looked down at her wrists again, she just couldn't look at anyone right now.

Gaara didn't say anything; he wasn't really sure what to say. And he didn't know if he would help the situation, or make it worst, so he stayed quiet.

"Lord Kazekage, Kankuro, please come with me." A nurse said, walking into the room to get them.

The three walked out of the room, leaving Temari alone again. That was all that she wanted right now, just to be left alone so that she could think.

…

"What is it?" Kankuro asked once the door shut behind Gaara.

"The pregnancy test came back negative, but she was hurt pretty badly." The nurse said calmly. "As you can see, her eye and her lip are both swollen. The burns on her wrist will go away with time, as will the bruises."

"Yeah, we know that." Kankuro said, getting annoyed.

Gaara sighed angrily. "Tell us something we really don't know!"

"She might not fully recover." The nurse said, still calm. "We get this a lot, most of the time the women never completely recover. Whenever someone they love hurts them like this, they never talk again. A couple of them that we've had in the past even killed themselves afterward."

Kankuro and Gaara tensed.

"Keep an eye on her and don't let her ever confront him, that's what normally leads them to suicide." The nurse turned away from them. "Lord Kazekage, do you still want me to call Lady Hokage in Konohagakure?"

"Yes." Gaara said, looking at the ground.

The nurse continued walking away as Gaara leaned against the wall.

"Damn it!" Kankuro said, punching the wall. "We're her brothers, we should've been able to protect her!!"

Gaara looked up at the ceiling. "I know."

"Hey, I don't care who you are, don't punch the wall!!" A doctor shouted from down the hall.

"Kiss my ass!!" Kankuro shouted back. He sighed in frustration and leaned against the wall too. He'd made a good size indent in the wall and knew that someone would get pissed about it later.

"What did he say when you spoke to him?" Gaara asked, looking back at the ground.

"He acted as if he didn't know what he did. Plus, he denied it." Kankuro paused and looked at the ground. "Temari doesn't want to believe he did this to her, I can see it in her eyes. I don't want to believe it either…it's just hard to believe that Shikamaru would ever do something like that."

Gaara nodded. "It is… When I confronted him, he acted the same way. He asked me what I was doing and then passed out."

"Hmm…"

The two brothers became silent. They remembered yesterday afternoon, when they found Temari.

They'd found her not too far outside of the village, in a small patch of white roses. Temari had been growing them there for some time and they knew that now it was just a waste. The flowers would die, just as Temari's heart has.

Gaara still couldn't get what his top advisor had told him during his meeting with the council out of his mind. _"Lord Kazekage, we found Temari behind a rock just outside of the village!" "She grows flowers outside of the village, this isn't anything new to me." "It's not that. It seems as if she had been raped!" "Say what?!"_

"We trusted him too well." Kankuro said, glaring at the opposite wall now.

Gaara nodded. "Far too well."

Kankuro didn't say anything for a minute but said, "We wouldn't even have known it was him if she hadn't kept shouting his name."

"She only shouted his name when we asked who did that to her." Gaara said solemnly.

Kankuro stood straight up and walked over to the door to Temari's room. "You coming back in?"

Gaara nodded and followed his older brother back into their sister's hospital room, where she was sleeping peacefully.

…

_I didn't do anything. Why would I?_ Shikamaru kept saying this over and over in his head, unable to wrap his mind around what he had been told.

Shikamaru just couldn't grasp why he would ever hurt Temari in any way, shape, or form. He was now sitting down on the ground, hitting the back of his head against the cold stonewall.

"Dammit!" Shikamaru mumbled. "What the hell's going on?!"

Shikamaru looked outside of the cell window and saw the tiniest glimpse of light coming in. He had been up all night; he knew the time was around six thirty, maybe seven o'clock, because the sun was just rising. He looked down at his clothes, the smallest bit of sand was left on him but it was enough to convince him that Gaara and Kankuro believed that he did something.

_It wasn't me._ Shikamaru said in his head. "How am I ever gonna be able to say that to Gaara or Kankuro…or Temari?" Shikamaru looked down at the stone floor blankly, still unable to think clearly.

"Hey, you!" The guard said, getting Shikamaru's attention. "You have a visitor."

The guard walked away, Gaara had been standing behind him.

Shikamaru stood up quickly and said, "Listen, Gaara, I didn't—"

"Don't give me that shit!" Gaara shouted. "Temari trusted you with her **life** and you ruined it! We thought that we knew you!"

"Gaara, listen to me! I didn't do any—"

"Shut up!" More sand slithered over to Shikamaru and pinned him to the wall. "I should've just told Kankuro to do this, it'd be less messy."

Shikamaru struggled against the sand. "I'm telling you, I didn't touch her! I swear to you, it wasn't me!"

Gaara stopped for a moment and said, "Do honestly think that your word matters right now?"

"Who even told you this?!"

"Temari." Gaara said, getting angrier and angrier by the second.

"She said I did that to her?"

Gaara nodded. "When we asked her who had raped her, she shouted your name."

Shikamaru, still struggling against the sand, shook his head. "I would never hurt her!!"

Gaara sighed and made the sand release Shikamaru. "I can't kill you anyway. You have a court date…after you're sentenced, I'll kill you." He said, walking away.

Shikamaru sank back to the ground; his heart was pounding in his ears. He had been only seconds away from death, only to be stopped because Gaara would get his chance later.

_I __**have to **__find a way out of this mess before it's too late! I have to talk to Temari and then hopefully she can remember something to prove it wasn't me._ Shikamaru laid down on the floor, tired. _I'm in a deep pile of shit and I have no idea how I found myself in it._

Shikamaru closed his eyes, but was unable to stay asleep for long. Temari's face haunted his dreams, as did Gaara and Kankuro's murderous faces. As did their words: _"You raped Temari!"_

Next Time:

Innocent Until Proven Guilty;

Tsunade comes to Sunagakure with some of Temari's friends from the Leaf Village. She doesn't believe that Shikamaru did it, and is willing to prove it to everyone.


	2. Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Temari opened her eyes and found Kankuro sleeping in a chair next to her bed and Gaara reading a book next to Kankuro. She looked over at her brothers and saw that Kankuro looked tired. Temari might've noted that for Gaara, but he always looked tired anyway.

Gaara looked up from the book he was reading and smiled at his older sister. "I see that you're up. It's almost noon."

Temari stared blankly at her younger brother, it's not that she didn't want to speak, she just couldn't.

Gaara shut his book and poked Kankuro in the arm.

Kankuro opened his eyes and yawned before he looked over at Temari. "Good afternoon, my dear sister." Kankuro would always say that to Temari if she was in a bad mood or if she was sad about something. It would make her laugh every time because he used some fake cheesy accent.

But this time it did nothing; Temari just stared lifelessly at Kankuro. Gaara and Kankuro exchanged a worried look, especially after what the nurse had told them about Temari possibly being suicidal.

"Temari, he **will** pay for what he's done." Gaara said when he looked back at Temari.

Kankuro shot Gaara a glare that said to shut up right there, but Gaara didn't see Kankuro look at him.

"We won't let him get away with what he's done." Gaara continued.

Temari turned on her side to be facing away from her brothers. She couldn't let them see the tears coming from her eyes.

Kankuro smacked Gaara in the back of the head and when Gaara tried to question the reason he was just hit, Kankuro hit him in the back of the head again.

Temari sniffed and thought, _Why? I just don't understand why he would do this…somebody tell me why!_

…

Shikamaru opened his eyes and sat up, popping his back as he did. "Ow!" He stood up and stretched out a little bit, his joints were slightly stiff from having to sleep on a stone floor.

Shikamaru looked out of the cell window and saw the clear blue sky with only a few lingering clouds. He sighed. _I bet clouds never have to worry about being falsely accused of something._

"Shikamaru Nara!" Ino shouted as she walked into the area with Naruto, getting Shikamaru's attention.

Shikamaru walked over to the door. "Um…"

"Explain yourself!" Ino shouted at him.

Shikamaru shook his head. "I didn't do anything, I swear it!"

"I don't believe you would even consider it…but the fact is that you did it!" Ino continued shouting. "And to think that I trusted you all this time. Poor Temari, she trusted you more than anyone did…"

"I thought you didn't like Temari though." Shikamaru was confused again.

"It doesn't matter whether or not I like her, in fact I hate her, but it's beside the point! After what you did her, how could I think about being mad at her when I'm pissed off at you?!"

"Ino, I didn't hurt her, I swear!" Shikamaru all but shouted.

"Yeah right! Naruto came here with Lady Tsunade, Hinata, Sakura, TenTen, and myself. He's going help prove that you're guilty. And it won't matter how much you protest!"

"Ino, maybe you should go now." Naruto said. "Gaara wanted me to talk to Shikamaru."

Ino nodded and walked out of the jail.

Naruto looked directly at Shikamaru. "To be honest, I don't think you did it."

"Thank you, somebody believes me." Shikamaru sighed in relief.

"Lady Tsunade and Asuma don't believe you did either." Naruto said as calmly as he could.

"Asuma's here?" Shikamaru tensed, not really sure how that conversation would go.

Naruto shook his head. "No, Asuma's still in Konoha. You're too lazy to do much of anything, you wouldn't do that to Temari."

Shikamaru sighed. "Good to know that you're gonna prove my innocence by saying I'm too lazy."

Naruto shook his head again. "Nah, I'm not gonna say that. The fact is, you love Temari too much to even think about raping her."

Shikamaru nodded. "Nobody else seems to think that, not even Temari."

"Lady Tsunade brought some DNA equipment from Konoha and says that's how she's gonna prove your innocence."

"When's my court date? Do you know?"

Naruto nodded. "I believe Gaara said it was in three days."

"Dammit! You better hurry up!"

"We'll move as fast as we can." Naruto turned to leave. "You're innocent, we'll prove it, Shikamaru."

…

"Hinata, go plug this in the wall over there." Tsunade said as she barked orders to everyone who came with her from Konoha.

Hinata did as she was told. Temari was sitting up in the bed, watching them running around the room with different wires. They were trying to get all of the equipment Tsunade had brought along plugged in, but it was harder then it first seemed.

"TenTen, hook this wire up to that monitor." Tsunade said as she handed the wire to TenTen. "Sakura, plug this wire into the computer over there."

"Lady Tsunade, I thought that we were going to find out who it was somewhere else so that…yeah." TenTen said when Sakura plugged the wire into the computer.

"We are, but we need the information to come from here. That computer will automatically send us the results at another computer and that's how it works." Tsunade said quickly.

"All done, Lady Tsunade." Sakura said, sitting down in the chair next to Temari's bed.

Temari looked at all of the people in the room, her friends from Konoha and the Hokage. Gaara and Kankuro were gone with Naruto someplace, Tsunade knew where but didn't tell anyone.

Tsunade walked over to the computer and typed something, pausing shortly before saying, "They're already there, good." She looked over at Temari. "This'll all be straightened out soon."

Temari looked down at her wrists again, the burn marks hadn't faded yet, they were still red as they were the night before.

"It wasn't him and I'm willing to take the time to prove it!" Tsunade said when she saw Temari look down.

Temari looked over at Tsunade like she was crazy and shook her head.

Tsunade sighed. "You're a Shinobi, you should know that your eyes can deceive you."

Temari shook her head again.

"So that's it…? You're just going to give up?" Tsunade was getting angry at this point. "The man you love is most likely being falsely accused and you just let your eyes believe what they want."

Temari looked down at her wrists and said softly, "What am I supposed to believe anymore?"

Tsunade, still unsmiling, said, "You can believe in Shikamaru."

Temari quickly looked up at Tsunade, nobody could believe that she had said Shikamaru's name so nonchalantly after all that happened to Temari.

Temari looked at the wall across from her again, into the mirror. "Look at what he did to me… How do you expect me to just believe him?"

"And how could you ever think that he would ever hurt you?!" Tsunade shot at Temari. "You know him better than any of us, Shikamaru wouldn't do this."

"I thought I knew him." Temari said, looking down at her wrists and becoming silent once again.

Tsunade shook her head and sighed in frustration. She walked for the door and said, "Don't let her out of your sight. I'm going to get the semen sample the doctors collected so that I can run the DNA test."

…

"How can you believe that he did it?" Naruto asked Gaara and Kankuro as they waited in front of computer screen in a small room.

"Temari wouldn't lie about being raped!" Kankuro shouted.

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not doubting that, don't get me wrong, I'm just saying that maybe it wasn't Shikamaru."

Gaara was staying silent, leaning against a wall next to the door with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Why would she lie about who did that to her?!" Kankuro yelled.

"Transformation Jutsu." Naruto said.

"Huh?"

"Whoever raped Temari could've used a transformation jutsu." Naruto said, sitting down in a desk chair.

"Well…that's true…"

"A transformation jutsu?" Gaara questioned Naruto's theory. "Temari is one of the top Shinobi in the village, she'd know better."

"Jiraiya-Sensei had told me about people who can do the transformation jutsu and make their presence seem like that of the person they transformed into." Naruto continued arguing.

"How can we not be sure that you weren't the one then?" Gaara glared over at Naruto.

"Would I try to prove Shikamaru's innocence if I did? Besides, Jiraiya-Sensei said that only the Sannin can do that technique."

"Maybe it was Jiraiya then." Kankuro said, shuddering a little after saying it.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. The other two are Granny Tsunade and Orochimaru."

Gaara and Kankuro exchanged a glance and shook their heads. "It was Shikamaru."

Naruto sighed. "How can you be so sure?"

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Gaara asked, looking at the ground.

Naruto shook his head. "Fine. When we prove that it wasn't Shikamaru, I think you'll be more pissed than you are now."

Tsunade walked into the room and kicked Naruto out of the chair before sitting down. "I have a theory about who it could really be."

"Why are you defending him?!" Kankuro shouted. "I understand that you're the Hokage and that your village means a lot to you, but you've got to understand the situation!"

"I understand the situation!" Tsunade yelled at Kankuro. "Don't get me wrong, I understand what's happening! Why do you think I came all the way here from Konoha?! I want to prove Shikamaru's innocence, but I'm also here to help Temari!"

Nobody said anything; they knew that it was possible that Tsunade was right.

Tsunade turned to the computer and typed something. "Okay, Sakura is starting up the equipment. It could take a few days to go through both databases."

"Both?" Naruto asked.

"Sunagakure and Konohagakure." Tsunade said. "If the situation arises, we might have to go to other villages so that we can find out who the real culprit is."

Naruto nodded while Kankuro and Gaara just stayed quiet.

"His court date's in three days." Gaara finally said. "You plan on getting through both databases in three days?"

Tsunade shook her head. "Until I have the correct data, you have to delay if it comes to that."

Kankuro and Gaara exchanged a quick glance but nodded nonetheless.

Tsunade sighed. "This is gonna be an all-nighter for sure."

…

Shikamaru sat back down on the stone floor. He had just finished talking with Hinata, who would most likely report everything to either Tsunade or Gaara.

Shikamaru sighed and looked at the floor. _It seems that even pretty much everyone here from Konoha believes that I'm guilty too._

Shikamaru hit the back of his head against the stonewall that he was leaning against again. He looked where he had been hitting his head and saw a small indent forming. Shikamaru realized that he'd hit his head in the same place all afternoon. He looked outside of the window and saw the sun was setting, he could tell because of the colors of red, purple, and orange in the sky.

Shikamaru sighed again. "Two days to go." _Tsunade better hurry up or I'm gonna get killed._

Shikamaru laid back down on the cold stone floor on his back, he stared up at the ceiling as if he were looking at clouds. When the sun completely set, Shikamaru could no longer see anything around him and he shut his eyes. He knew that the next few days were going to be hell, not only for him, but for Temari too.

…

"Bullshit!" TenTen shouted and picked up the top two cards on the pile. "I was right!"

"Dammit!" Sakura said, taking the entire pile of cards.

The girl's had convinced Temari to sit up and play a game of "Bullshit" with them. They had hoped that playing a game would make Temari laugh, but so far it's done nothing.

"Three fives." TenTen said, putting three cards down.

"One six." Hinata said, putting one card down.

Temari thought about it before placing two cards down. "Two sevens." She said quietly.

"Three eights." Ino said, putting three cards down.

"Bullshit!" Sakura all but yelled.

"What?"

"You heard me, I said Bullshit!" Sakura continued yelling.

Ino sighed and took what was in the pile.

Sakura put down two cards and said, "Two nines."

"One ten." TenTen said, putting down a card.

"Two Jacks." Hinata said as she put down two cards.

"Bullshit." Temari said unenthusiastically as everyone else had before her.

Hinata sighed and took the pile. "I've never been good at this game."

Temari put down her last two cards. "Two Queens." She put her hands in the air. "I win."

Everyone looked over at Temari, unable to believe it. She'd never been able to win a game of "Bullshit" in the past and they hadn't allowed her to win either.

"Good job. This is your first win!" Hinata said, smiling a little.

Temari looked over at Hinata and nodded. "Never thought I'd win. Did you go easy on me?"

"There's no possible way to go easy on anyone in Bullshit." TenTen said. "We played like normal, but we did hope we'd see just a little smile."

Temari hung her head and said, "After yesterday, all happiness I had in my heart died."

Hinata, TenTen, Sakura, and Ino looked at Temari and became sad. They knew what happened, they had been told before they left the Leaf Village. They sat around Temari on the bed, trying to think of anything to say.

"Um…Temari, before you know it this whole mess will be over." Hinata said, not really sure if that would help. "You'll be okay again, and everything will be normal. Your wounds will heal an—"

Temari glared at Hinata. "Hinata, look at what he did to me. Look carefully… There're more than just flesh wounds here. I'll never smile again, and life can never be normal…ever!"

Hinata hung her head and stayed silent.

"Temari, we can never know what happened." TenTen said as calmly as she could. "And, to be honest, I don't want to. It must've been horrible… You loved him and I think that maybe he still loves you."

Temari shook her head.

"Transformation jutsu." TenTen said, still looking at her friend. "It's very much possible."

Temari shook her head violently.

Ino walked over to the computer and typed something, waiting a minute before saying, "Gaara says he's on his way so that we can go back to the hotel for the night."

Temari looked at all of her friends, pleading with her eyes for them not to go.

"We'll be here all day tomorrow and tomorrow night too." Sakura said with a reassuring smile.

Temari hung her head again and nodded.

Gaara walked in a few minutes later when Hinata was putting the deck of cards they used back in her pocket.

"What time do you plan on being back?" Gaara asked as he sat down in a chair.

"Around ten in the morning." Sakura said, standing up.

Gaara nodded. "Thanks."

"Not a problem at all." Ino said as they walked out the door and closed the door.

Temari lay back down in the bed and curled into a ball.

Gaara saw this and said, "Kankuro and I are both sorry." Temari looked up at her brother like he was crazy. "We couldn't protect you…and we're sorry."

Temari closed her eyes. _No need to apologize…it's my fault for being so weak and trusting!_ It only took a few minutes before Temari completely fell asleep.

…

Two days later, late in the afternoon, was Shikamaru's scheduled court appearance. Unfortunately, Temari had to be there too so that she could tell everyone what happened. Gaara and Kankuro had tried to get her out of it, but the judge disallowed it. They needed her testimony so that they could even consider him to be guilty.

Temari had been awake since six that morning, the other girls had left earlier when Kankuro had gotten back to take Temari to the courthouse. Temari put her headband around her neck again and looked at herself in the full-length mirror in the bathroom. Her normal clothes felt strange to her; she'd been wearing a hospital gown for the past few days after all. She put her hair into the familiar four ponytails and walked back into the room.

Kankuro looked over as his sister walked back into the room. A change of clothes didn't change the fact that she still looked like hell…and this time, because of her short sleeved shirt with net arm stockings, Kankuro could see where the bruises were on her arms. The swelling in both Temari's eye and lip had gone down significantly, she was now able to see a little out of her left eye.

"Ready?" Kankuro asked when Temari looked directly at him.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Temari said, still a little quiet.

Kankuro nodded and led Temari out of the hospital room and to the courthouse. When they entered, they were directed to their seats and waited about five minutes before the doors to the room opened again.

Temari didn't dare even a glance back at the door, she already knew who it was going to be walking through those doors.

Shikamaru sat down in another seat, away from Temari. He had been handcuffed around his ankles and wrists to prevent to possible escape.

_It looks like Tsunade's too late…I'm gonna die today._ Shikamaru thought, sighing in his head.

Only two minutes later the judge walked out and the trial began.

"Shikamaru Nara of the Leaf Village is being charged on one account of rape. Would the accused please step forward." The judge said, completely calm.

Shikamaru stood up and walked over to stand in front of the judge with a guard behind him.

"How does the accused plead?" Even though she already knew the answer, she still had to ask.

"Not guilty." Shikamaru said, trying to stay calm.

The judge looked at a piece of paper and said, "Now, your girlfriend says that you **are** indeed guilty. She's the one you raped after all."

Shikamaru shook his head. "I would never do that to her! I love her!"

Temari winced a little, she knew that judge possibly saw but didn't care. _He's lying…he has to be._

"Go sit down." The judge said, waving Shikamaru away. "Kankuro, please come up here."

Kankuro stood up and walked over to the judge to talk with her. "Yeah?"

"Are you playing lawyer for your own sister?" She asked, seemingly annoyed.

Kankuro nodded. "What's your point?"

The judge sighed. "Just making sure. You're up."

Kankuro took a deep breath, knowing what he had to do to convince this judge that Temari wasn't lying. "Would the accuser please take the stand…?" (I don't know how to do for this scene, I'm making it up as I go…)

Temari stared at Kankuro wide eyed for a moment and then walked over to the small box area next to the judge's box and sat down in the chair.

Kankuro walked over to Temari and gave her an apologetic look before saying, "Tell us all, in your own words of course, what happened."

Temari looked down to regain her composure and said, "It was early that morning when I left for my small garden in the desert…"

Next Time:

Can't Seem To Believe;

Even after all this, it's still so hard to believe what he did to her…


	3. Can't Seem to Believe

It was around seven in the morning, Temari and Shikamaru walked out of the Kazekage Mansion that Temari lived in with her younger brothers.

"_I'm gonna go to my garden for a little while, okay…?" Temari said, giving Shikamaru a hug._

_Shikamaru hugged Temari back and kissed her on the lips before saying, "Okay. I'm going to go get some things that your brothers have been saying that you need at the house."_

_Temari smiled and nodded. "Alright then, see you later." She let go of Shikamaru's hand and ran towards the desert._

_When Temari stopped running, she was behind a rock in her garden of white roses. Temari picked up a watering can and put a lot of water on her flowers. She smiled again as she looked at the flowers._

"_I can't believe I actually grew something out here. Then again, these roses __**are**__ rare…maybe that's why they grew." Temari said to herself, looking up at the sky._

_A few clouds were in the sky, reminding her of Shikamaru. Temari laughed when she realized what Shikamaru would say about clouds, even now. He envied clouds, just being able to drift on the slightest wind. Temari had even told him at one point that maybe the wind drifted him to her, and he smiled and agreed._

"_Temari." Shikamaru said, walking behind the rock and over to her._

_Temari looked over at Shikamaru and walked towards him. "I thought you were out shopping."_

"_I changed my mind." Shikamaru said. "I wanted to be with you."_

_Temari laughed a little. "You're lying, you just wanted to look at the clouds."_

_Shikamaru grabbed Temari's left arm tightly. "No, I really did just want to be with you."_

"_Ow!" Temari tried pulling her arm away. "That hurts, let me go!"_

_Shikamaru smirked and pushed Temari to the ground, into the flowers. He pulled out some rope and tied Temari's arms behind her back swiftly. He was moving faster than he normally ever would and it scared Temari._

"_What the hell are you doing?!" Temari asked, trying to struggle from his grip and the ropes._

"_Stop struggling, it'll be less painful." Shikamaru said almost evilly._

"_Let me go!!" Temari shouted as loud as she could._

_Shikamaru punched the side of her face and shouted back, "Shut up, bitch!"_

_Tears started welling up in Temari's eyes and fell onto the ground below her. "Shikamaru…"_

_Shikamaru punched Temari's left eye pretty hard. "I said, shut up!"_

_Shikamaru then took off his jacket and threw it aside, hiding it within the roses. He took off his shirt, allowing his pale chest to be exposed completely to the desert sun. Shikamaru ripped off Temari's shirt, causing her headband to fall limply to the side._

_Shikamaru drew a kunai knife and put it in the ground next to Temari's head. Temari looked at the kunai knife, tears still falling from her eyes, and almost started screaming for her life. Shikamaru slowly slipped off Temari's skirt and started softly laughing._

"_No! Shikamaru, please stop!" Temari shouted, but she just got a fist to her face again._

"_How many am I going to have to tell you to just __**shut up**__?!" Shikamaru said, taking off his pants_

_Temari started sobbing, still struggling against the ropes. Unfortunately Shikamaru had tied the ropes too tight, and exactly perfect so that Temari couldn't perform any hand signs._

_Shikamaru, once he was completely naked, took the kunai knife out of the ground and used it to cut the front of Temari's bra off._

_Temari, still sobbing, shouted, "Somebody help me, please!!!!"_

_Shikamaru almost punched Temari in the face again, but stopped. "No…lets not ruin that pretty face of yours." Shikamaru punched her arm, harder than he had her face, instead._

_Temari yelped in pain from the punch to her arm. Shikamaru covered her mouth with his other hand and took off what Temari had left on her._

Shikamaru continued laughing as he raped Temari for another hour before standing up and getting dressed again. "You weren't much fun…but I did like the screaming. It made it more exciting."

_Shikamaru walked away, leaving Temari there to bawl for another three hours._

…

The entire room was silent; Temari had tears running down her face. She'd never wanted to revisit that time ever again.

Kankuro looked at his broken older sister and said, "You can return to your seat."

Temari stood up and ran back to her seat, she sat down and tried to hide her face.

Shikamaru couldn't believe what he'd just heard. _There isn't any possible way that I'd ever do that._

Kankuro glared over at Shikamaru and said, "Lord Kazekage, would you be so kind as to come to the stand?"

Gaara stood up, somehow resisting the very powerful urge to kill Shikamaru right then and there. He sat down where Temari had been sitting just a moment ago, glaring at Shikamaru with the eyes of the demon.

"Could you tell us what your advisor told you while you were in the meeting with your council?" Kankuro asked, looking at the ground.

Gaara nodded.

…

"As long as the Akatsuki don't attack, we're safe." One of the members of the council said quickly.

"_Lord Kazekage, you can't possibly believe him!" Another member said._

_Gaara shook his head. "We're never safe if the Akatsuki are planning to attack. They'll attack whenever __**they**__ see fit."_

"_But, Lord Kazekage, the costs of getting a better training system for our ANBU would be tremendous." The first person said._

"_I realize this…but unless you feel like dying at any possible moment, I feel it's necessary."_

_Just then, Gaara's advisor ran into the meeting room, causing everyone to look in that direction. "Lord Kazekage, we found Temari behind a rock just outside the village!"_

_Gaara shrugged. "She grows flowers outside of the village, this isn't anything new to me."_

_The advisor shook his head violently. "It's not that. It seems as if she had been raped!"_

"Say what?!" Gaara shouted, standing up from the meeting table and walking swiftly towards the door.

"_What about the meeting?" Someone from the council asked._

"_Fuck the meeting!" Gaara shouted, now running towards the desert._

_Gaara ran into the desert and saw Kankuro just arriving ahead of him. Kankuro, though, backed away when he saw what happened. Gaara ran up and saw for himself, his eyes grew wide with rage when he saw._

_Gaara took off the Kazekage robe and put it on Temari. Now he was wearing his normal clothes, which would make a normal person burn in the hot desert sun._

_The squad of ANBU that had arrived before Gaara and Kankuro had cut the ropes off of Temari's wrists. Temari looked over at her brothers, though tears blurred her vision._

_Gaara and Kankuro knelt beside their sister and she collapsed into Gaara's chest, still bawling._

"_Who did this to you?" Gaara asked slowly._

"_Shikamaru!!" Temari shouted, and then fell silent for what would be near of two days._

…

"I couldn't find him until later that night. When I found him, I nearly killed him…unfortunately I had strict orders to bring him in alive." Gaara said, finishing.

The judge slightly shook her head. _It's obvious that kid raped her, but because we have to have a formal trial I can't just send him to Lord Kazekage's mercy._

Kankuro nodded. "Alright, you may also return to your seat. No more questions." Kankuro walked over to his seat beside Temari and sat down.

…

Tsunade and Naruto still sat in front of the computer, waiting for something to show up on the screen.

"This damn thing better hurry or Shikamaru's condemned!" Naruto said, frustrated.

Tsunade looked on the screen. "It's been through ninety percent of both databases. The database from the Leaf Village shows that it wasn't Shikamaru."

"That's all we need, right…?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade shook her head. "To prove that it wasn't Shikamaru, we need to know who it really was. And it's looking to be nobody from either villages."

Just as Tsunade leaned back in her chair, the word **MATCH** showed up in a bright green, flashing letters. Tsunade looked at the screen quickly, shoving Naruto onto the ground.

Tsunade smirked evilly. "I'll be damned if I wasn't right about who it was. That slimy bastard." Tsunade hit the print button and grabbed the paper before grabbing Naruto and dragging him to the courthouse behind her.

"Granny, who was it?!" Naruto asked, trying to run backwards.

"You'll see, Naruto." Tsunade said when the courthouse was in sight.

Tsunade ran into the room, nearly knocking down the doors with her foot. "I've got proof to show that it wasn't Shikamaru!"

Everyone looked back at her, slightly scared.

"And you are…?" The judge asked, not really sure.

Tsunade let go of Naruto and walked up to the judge. "Tsunade, Hokage of the Leaf Village."

"Lady Hokage, it's a pleasure…but I don't understand."

Tsunade handed her the piece of paper. "Two and a half days of running DNA tests showed that the rapist wasn't Shikamaru."

Temari looked over at Shikamaru, who looked slightly relieved that Tsunade had shown up. "That's impossible, I knew what I saw… His presence was th—"

"Orochimaru is a Sannin after all. He can disguise his presence to match the one he's transformed into." Tsunade said, looking at Temari.

"Orochimaru?"

Shikamaru became pissed off just as much as, if not more than, Gaara and Kankuro.

Tsunade looked over at Shikamaru. "The Sound Village is where he is now." She looked over at Gaara and Kankuro. "Go do some hunting."

The guard released Shikamaru from the hand- and feet-cuffs before walking away. Shikamaru walked over to Temari warily, not really sure how she would react.

Temari stood up and ran over to Shikamaru, wrapping her arms around him. "I-I hoping it w-wasn't y-you!" She started sobbing again.

Shikamaru wrapped his arms around Temari comfortingly. "I can't say that I blame you. You knew what you saw and knew the presence you felt… He'll die, I swear it!"

The judge cleared her throat. "We should have a formal trial first."

Gaara, Kankuro, and Shikamaru shouted, "Fuck the trial!! We're going hunting!"

The three boys all looked at each other and nodded. Shikamaru took Temari's hand and led her out of the courthouse just behind Tsunade, Naruto, Ino, TenTen, Sakura, and Hinata. Gaara and Kankuro walked with Shikamaru and Temari to the Kazekage Mansion.

"Sorry about nearly killing you." Gaara said, walking straight into the Kazekage Mansion.

Shikamaru shook his head. "You were doing your job as her brothers… I don't blame you and I don't hold it against you."

Kankuro nodded. "We leave tomorrow."

Shikamaru and Gaara both nodded as well.

Temari leaned against Shikamaru's arm and put her head on his shoulder. _Shikamaru..._

Next Time:

The Hunt;

Kankuro, Gaara, and Shikamaru leave for the Sound Village to go snake hunting.


End file.
